Returing to You: Forever
by Iconic Superheroes
Summary: Sequel to "Returning to You." Rose, The Doctor, and Emily get used to being a family while dealing with an alien threat. Rose wrestles with the decision to leave Parallel Earth while the Doctor suspects something is not quite right with her.


Emily and her family were sitting on the sofas and chairs in their flat. The Doctor had just managed to find his way to parallel Earth, and Jackie had revealed to him that Emily was his and Rose's daughter. They were currently discussing what they should do next.

"I don't know if I can," Rose said, biting her lip. The Doctor gave her a questioning look.

"But I can't stay here," he said. "I don't belong on this side, and neither do you for that matter."

"I've spent eighteen years here. That's almost the same amount of time I spent on the other side," Rose pointed out.

Emily sighed. They had been going on like this for almost an hour, and she was getting rather tired of it. Her parents were discussing which Earth they should stay on. The Doctor was of course voting on going to their original Earth, but Rose was torn.

"But what about Mum and Pete and Mickey?" she asked. The Doctor shrugged. "They're welcome to come with us, if that's what they want." He normally wouldn't spend this much time arguing with Rose, but he was still trying to get used to the idea of having a daughter and he was using the time to think. He'd been a father before, but this was different. He'd never had a child with a human before. And this wasn't just any human – it was his Rose.

Jackie had gone home to fetch Pete, whom she was sure would want to see the Doctor.

Rose hadn't responded yet, and the Doctor was waiting for her to talk. He knew it was a little unfair to ask Rose to leave her new life behind, but he couldn't stay in this world. He didn't belong here.

"You're right," Emily said. Both of her parents turned to look at her.

"What?" Rose asked.

"Dad's right," she repeated. The Doctor felt a jolt of pleasure at the new title. He hadn't been a dad for so long, and it was a wonderful feeling. "You don't belong here and neither do we. It's not fair, but we can't stay. Who knows what kind of damage it would cause to the rift." Emily looked at her Mum as she said this.

Rose sighed, but the Doctor was perplexed. "I never said any of that aloud."

Emily shrugged. "Well, I'm half Time Lord aren't I? I suppose we have some sort of connection."

The Doctor grinned. "Right you are! We're connected. How brilliant!" He had just realized himself that he was no longer alone. Emily grinned back. She has always felt a sense of being incomplete, and now she was whole. She wondered if that's what the Doctor had felt for all those years he was alone.

His grin vanished. "Yes. It was."

Rose watched the back-and-forth between the two most important people in her life and felt a sense of peace. They were together again, and nothing would part them.

She should have realized the mere thought would jinx them.

They were having a family bonding moment when someone started pounding on the door. Rose and the Doctor shared a look as Emily got up to answer the door.

"Uncle Mickey!" she said happily as she opened the door. He didn't even acknowledge her as he burst into the room. "Rose! I was on my way to deliver your package, which _someone_ was too lazy to come get, and I saw-"

He stopped talking when he finally noticed who was sitting next to Rose. "You! What the bloody hell are you doin' here?"

"Oi!" Emily said, stomping back into the room. "Don't talk to my Dad like that, Mickey Smith!"

Mickey looked gob smacked. In all her life Emily had never talked to him like that. She had always been "Uncle" Mickey's favorite gal. But he was also shocked for another reason. "Her DAD?" he practically shrieked.

The Doctor had kept his mouth shut until then, perfectly content to watch his daughter verbally abuse Mickey the Idiot, but now he was curious.

"What, you didn't tell him either?" he asked.

"Urgh!" Rose ran a hand through her hair. "Mickey," she started. "I'm sorry. I thought it would be easier for you if you thought-"

"What, thought that you got knocked up by some random bloke on your travels?"

It was the Doctor's turn to protest. "Oi! Watch yourself, Mickey. I still have my sonic screwdriver handy."

"Right, like that's gonna scare me. I know what that thing can and can't do." Mickey said, puffing his chest out slightly. He was proud of the little knowledge he did have of the Doctor.

"Oh, but I've had time to make some adjustments," the Doctor said menacingly. He crossed his arms and glared at the human.

"Yeah, he adjusted the density of the sonic particles. They now can blast through anything less dense than steel," Emily added, mimicking the Doctor's stance.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Wait a tick - how did you know that?"

Emily grinned. "I went out to the TARDIS while you and Mum were arguing and played around with it."

Mickey couldn't help chuckling. "I don't know how I didn't notice on my own," he said. "This one's always been a right bit smarter than everybody else." He grinned at Emily, and she smiled back, forgetting her anger at him.

"So you're not mad?" Rose asked.

Mickey sighed. "Naw, I just wish you would have told me is all."

Having cleared that up, the Doctor changed the subject back to what Mickey had said as he came in. "You said you saw something?" he asked.

"Oh yeah! I'm on my lunch break, right, and me and this bloke Alan saw a ship land." Mickey said, his eyes shining in excitement.

"Brilliant!" the Doctor said. "I knew I was here for a reason." He received two identical glares from Emily and Rose. "Aside from being reunited with you, of course!" he added hastily. No one liked being on the receiving end of a Tyler woman's wrath. "Let's go see what this ship is, shall we?" the Doctor asked. He then grinned in that special way he had and held his hand out to Rose. She grinned back as she grabbed his hand. He then held out his other hand, wiggling his fingers until Emily took it. The three of them took off for the door, excited for a new adventure.

Mickey shook his head. "Completely mad, the lot of them. And who's going to tell Jackie where we've gone?" Still, he couldn't help but give a small smile as he took off after them.

* * *

Emily, the Doctor and Rose were at the site where Mickey had seen the landing. Mickey himself was trying to catch up with the newly reunited family.

The three of them stopped and stared at the ship, for there was indeed an alien spacecraft parked in a square of restaurants. It actually wasn't as large as Mickey had led them to believe – it was roughly the size of a lorry.

"Bloody hell," Emily said, a look of wonder on her face. "My first spaceship."

"Not true," Rose said. "You've seen the TARDIS."

Emily shrugged. "That's different. The TARDIS is familiar, even though I've technically just seen it for the first time."

The Doctor, who had been examining the strange ship while Rose and Emily spoke, chose this moment to respond. "It's embedded in you to know the TARDIS," he said, glancing at his daughter. "It's sort of an emergency mechanism – a Time Lord can recognize one instinctively in case there's trouble."

Emily grinned. "Brilliant. So what's this then?" She expected him to know, since the Doctor knew almost everything (in her eyes).

The Doctor glanced at Rose and frowned. "I'm not sure," he said, unable to prevent the worry from entering his voice. Of course, this immediately caused Rose to worry as well. "What should we do?" she asked, chewing on her bottom lip.

"We can always scan it," Emily suggested.

"Yeah, but I didn't bring the screwdriver," the Doctor said, sounding very frustrated.

Emily glanced around nervously. "Er, I sort of have it with me," she said, not meeting the Doctor's eyes. He smiled. "Let's have it, then," he said, waiting for her to hand it to him. Emily was relieved that he wasn't mad – she had only known him for less than a day and she had already done something she wasn't proud of. Sure, she wasn't really stealing the sonic screwdriver – she had only wanted to study it some more – but apparently the Doctor didn't mind.

He was busy scanning the mysterious ship. Rose, alone with her daughter for the first time since the Doctor had returned, put her arm around Emily. "All right?" she asked.

Emily nodded. "He's amazing, Mum. I can see why you were so upset for so long," she said, leaning her head on Rose's shoulder. They stood in silence as they watched him dance around the ship, mumbling to himself. Rose smiled. "We're in for an adventure, kiddo," she said.

Just then the ship exploded.

Emily woke up and discovered that her dad was peering worriedly into her face. "All right?" he asked. She groaned and sat up. "Yeah," she said, rubbing her back and wincing. "What about Mum?"

The Doctor stood up and offered her a hand. "Let's find out," he said. They both began searching for Rose.

"There!" Emily exclaimed, pointing to a pile of rubble that Rose's trainer was poking out of. Father and daughter rushed to her side.

They began moving the random junk off of her – luckily the restaurant square was relatively deserted, as it was now far past lunch – and the Doctor became increasingly worried as they uncovered more of Rose's body.

"Dad?"

Emily's childlike plea brought the Doctor out of his thoughts. "I don't know," he said in response to her unasked question.

Together they moved Rose away from the rubble and laid her down on some grass. The Doctor and Emily were both getting accustomed to not having to speak aloud – they could communicate without words. Emily was worried for her mother, but she trusted her Dad to fix everything. Her Mum had told stories of their adventures, and Emily knew that he had never let Rose down.

The Doctor tried to ignore Emily's frantic thoughts and focus on Rose. Something was going on with her, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

After her Dad's prolonged silence, Emily's worry increased. "She's not…?"

_No, but can't you sense something off about her?_

Emily shook her head. _Aside from being unconscious, everything seems to be the same as always._

Her response caused the Doctor's frown to deepen.


End file.
